


Counting Time

by InsertImaginativeNameHere



Category: Baccano!
Genre: Bittersweet, Canon Married Couple, F/M, I am Pretentious, Immortal/mortal ship, They are the healthiest ship and I love them, i love these two, poetry references, so comes with Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 11:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10684554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertImaginativeNameHere/pseuds/InsertImaginativeNameHere
Summary: Keith gets home one night and Kate wakes up to greet him, only to find everything has changed. She always knew one of them would likely be left alive without the other, but she didn't expect it like this.





	Counting Time

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write them again and I wanted to write this specific idea in-depth. It's not overly original but ehhhhh I hope it's alright.  
> idk if any of this works out but do I really care about that? not rly.

The door creaked open, and Kate heard the floorboards tense underfoot and allowed herself a small smile. He was home. Easing out of bed, she put on slippers and a dressing gown, heading through into the other room, where she knew her husband was waiting on the sofa not wanting to wake her up. But she always heard him and always got up to see him, and she valued their small fragments of time together, treasured them like gold. Minutes saved up to hours, and hours to days. And in all those days added together, perhaps he might only speak a few brief sentences - more than he did to anyone else, to be sure -  but that was just his way.

He wasn’t there. A moment of doubt. She’d thought she’d heard footsteps; had she? She’d thought those footsteps were Keith’s; were they? And if it wasn’t Keith, who, then?  Family? Hopefully. Enemies? Cigarette smoke from the dining room. Otherwise, silence.

“Keith?” she spoke softly. There was something different about this night in particular. Something very much different in the way the air felt. Maybe the weather was about to turn. Maybe something else. Something in the wind or something in the narrative. It felt like she was stepping off a precipice as she stepped into room, flicking the light on, felt her stomach drop.

There was a blazer draped over the chair, and it was riddled with holes. There was a ruined tie keeping it company. She recognised both items, especially the tie. She’d bought her husband that tie for Christmas. There was also a distinct absence of one thing, and it puzzled her at first but she was too busy being worried about the man in the chair to pay any mind to the distinct absence of blood.

“Oh Lord, Keith, tell me you’re alright?” She rushed to his side. The rest of his clothes were in a similarly tattered state. The look on his face was unreadable. He was a hard man to read but Kate had the knack, most of the time. Not right now. He didn’t look injured. It was then Kate noticed the lack of blood. “What happened?”

Her husband said nothing. He took a knife from his pocket, and Kate wasn’t surprised by that. Of course he had a knife. What surprised her was what he did, moving the blade across his hand before she had time to object.

“What are you doing?” She asked, horror and despair hitting her at once, and grabbed her husband’s hand, needing to stop him. The look on his face was as serious as always, not noticeably shaken but he looked rattled, from everything to the ruined clothes to the angle of his brows. Something had him unsettled, scared even, and Kate needed to know what. She took his face in her hands. “What are you thinkin-” He hushed her, pointing down at his hand, where what he’d just done was clear and on bold display, bright red. Red retreating back into his hand. Healing over. She stared at him, lost for words. “That’s not possible. What’s going on?” He said nothing. “Keith? Please, not now. Please talk to me.”

He sighed. “Immortal.” Looking at her, he shook his head, eyes apologetic. “We visited the Martillos tonight and by coincidence, drank something that made us impossible to kill.” He hesitated, then indicated his clothes. “We would have died otherwise. Luck, Berga, the Martillos...myself.”

Kate felt her stomach drop off that precipice and the foundations of the world, which had made a sort of sense, creak and shake. Immortal. Impossible to kill. Would have died otherwise. “So you can’t die?” He nodded grimly. “What about aging? Will you age?” He said nothing. “Keith?”

“...no,” he said, eventually. “No injuries, no aging. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologising?” Kate asked, somehow managing to keep her hand from shaking. “You’re here, you’re alive. That’s all that matters. You’re okay.”

“We didn’t know what we were drinking,” Keith said plainly. “Everyone drank their fill. There’s none left. If I’d known, Kate, I would have-” He tailed off. “I’ll lose you.” He sounded afraid. He sounded very afraid indeed.

She wrapped her arms around him. “It’ll be alright. I don’t blame you for any of it. It’s not your fault, do you hear me?” He nodded numbly. “This way has complications, yes, but at least I won’t worry myself half to death, whether or not you’ve gotten yourself hurt, whether someone might have decided to take you out, I don’t need to worry about- all the things I’ve worried about every night for so long.” She swallowed, holding back tears. “I married you knowing full well this was unlikely to be a long marriage, that you weren’t likely to- to make it to-” She wiped her eyes. “That we probably wouldn’t grow old together, and I reconciled myself with that, much as it hurt to do so, because I loved you and I love you, and even though we can’t grow old together…” she trailed off. “I made a vow to be true to you and love you.”

“Until death us do part,” Keith said softly.

“Yes,” Kate said, nodding and not crying, absolutely not crying. “Yes, exactly. This changes nothing.”

“We always thought I’d be the one to die first,” Keith murmured. “Who could have predicted this?”

“I don’t know,” Kate replied. “I prayed to keep you safe, every night.”

“I doubt it was God answering your prayers.”

“I wouldn’t know. This is an improbable situation, if not an impossible one. I can’t help but feel like it’s an answer to _something_ ,” Kate said. “I don’t know what. You have forever, Keith. You have so much time, and I won’t be- _can’t_ be there for all of it. But we have many years left for now. Years of happiness. We’ll take it a day at a time and see how things turn out. If we’re lucky, we could have fifty, sixty years. Perhaps more.”

“If we count every second we might have left, we won’t be paying attention to the ones right now,” Keith’s voice was low, almost inaudible.

“That’s a very pretty thing to say,” Kate replied. “It sounds like poetry.”

“I think perhaps it is.” Keith smiled. As always, his speech was slow and purposeful, every word important. “Something from a book Luck read once. I don’t remember the exact line." He paused, considering his next words carefully, intently, before he continued. "There was another one...I didn’t much like. From a man to a woman he loved. The crux of it was him persuading her to share her virtue...it was a distasteful poem from start to finish. There was a line in it. ‘And though we cannot make our sun stand still-”

“‘Yet we can make him run’,” Kate finished. “To His Coy Mistress. I never liked that poem either. It has some excellent imagery though, but when it comes down to it, it’s all about a man trying to get what he wants, at the advantage of a lady. That line’s the one I remember too.” She squirmed. “That and the frightful one about worms.”

Keith nodded. “It’s the final couplet. Time cannot be stopped. All we can do is use it as best we can.”

“Like you do every word,” Kate said, and he looked somewhat embarrassed.

“You flatter me.”

“I married a very wise, very intelligent, very handsome man. I regret none of it.” She kissed him gently. He kissed her back. “I promise you, as I promised on our wedding day, I will stay with you.”

“Until death us do part,” Keith added unnecessarily, but Kate said nothing. She kissed her husband and he kissed her back, and it seemed like they had stilled time just for a little while, just there and then, no matter how foolish that sounded.

It couldn’t last forever. Couldn’t and wouldn’t.

There was always only so much time left.

For most people, anyway.

 

-

 

Kate woke up the next morning to an absence. Normally, before he left for work, Keith would wake her. Or if she woke first, she’d be the one to wake him, though she liked to let him rest first. They’d eat breakfast together. It was often the only meal they would have sat at the table, as a married couple. For her birthday and for important celebrations, Keith would take her to dinner, when he was able. He made it a priority. And he didn’t leave before breakfast. Checking the clock, Kate saw it was still very, very early, only just getting light.

She was worried. After the events of last night, events which only felt a little bit real, things had changed, and she wasn’t sure how. Keith had probably just gone to work early. _This_ early though? Well, it was a city that never slept and a business that did just likewise. Irregular hours were to be expected. _This_ irregular? It was barely light out.

When she found him sleeping sat up on the sofa in the living room, she sighed. She didn’t doubt he’d been there all night, thinking over these new developments. Thinking it over, then thinking it over again, and again until he drifted off. On hearing her enter the room, he blinked awake.

“Were you here all night?” Kate asked.

“After you went to sleep? Yes. There were some things I needed to think over. Alone.” He didn’t look up at her.

She sat down next to him and squeezed his hand. “Immortal or not, you need sleep. I know you’re okay, but it doesn’t do anyone any good for you to linger in your own head, alright? Work can wait. Take the day off, I’ll go talk to your brothers.”

“That really isn’t necessary.”

“So you’re going to have words with them, then?” Kate folded her arms, watching her husband frown. “There’s things I need to say. And you need to sleep. I know you don’t need to sleep much anyway but when did you last properly get a night’s rest?”

Keith shrugged. “Alright. I’ll stay home.” He was smiling faintly. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. I-” he broke off, looking at the floor, and when he spoke again his voice was almost inaudible. “I don’t what I’ll do without you.”

“You’ll be alright. You always are.”

“I know,” Keith replied, quietly. “...I’ll miss you.”

“You’re such a romantic,” Kate said, putting on a brave face and kissing her husband goodbye. “I’ll see you later. Sleep well.” She was almost out of the door when she heard him speak.

“Be careful,” he said softly.

“I will,” she replied, and then she left.

 

-

 

She headed down to their offices, where she knew she could find Luck and Berga. There was something she needed to discuss with them. The men outside recognised her and let her past without comment, only a polite hello. She asked how they were doing, was everything okay with them, and they said yes, for the most part. They were chipping in for the funerals of some colleagues of theirs who had been killed recently. Kate wasn’t overly familiar with the rest of the names, but she had known Mike and was sorry to hear he had died. The men were quiet, resigned to the fact this could easily be their fate one day. Shuddering, Kate hurried through into the room where Berga and Luck generally worked. Perhaps the weather was changing. Perhaps the air had made her cold.

The brothers were talking in low voices she couldn’t hear, Berga somehow managing to keep the volume down this once. On entering the room, she coughed and they both looked up at her, like they’d been caught in the middle of something. Which they possibly had. They didn’t know she knew about the immortality.

“Hello. Berga, Luck.”

“Uh...hi Kate?” Berga offered. Luck stood up, and Berga somewhat awkwardly followed, then sat down again clumsily.

“A pleasure to see you as always. What brings you here?” Luck’s tone was polite but his eyes were studying her, sizing up what she knew. “Is Keith not with you?”

“He’s at home, resting. From what he told me, the three of you had a somewhat trying night.” She met his gaze, and he knew she knew immediately.

“So he told you?” Luck asked, careful not to name exactly what.

“‘Bout the immortality?” Berga joined in, totally tactless and blunt as ever. Luck gave him a look. “What? ‘Course Keith told her. She’s his wife, they’re in love, ain’t they? Communication is key to a relationship.”

“Where did you-” Luck shook that off. “Never mind. Yes. About the immortality. He did. And he told you-”

“That none of you will age? That I’ll grow old and die and you won’t? Yes. He told me,” Kate said calmly. “That’s what I came to talk to you about.” The two looked intrigued. “Please, when I’m gone...look after him for me. I know, I know, he doesn’t really need it but I worry. He needs someone be around, so he doesn’t end up isolated. Not necessarily to talk to, just...keep an eye on him, will you? Promise me, please.”

Luck was quiet. It was, to Kate’s surprise, Berga who spoke first. “Promise. Keith’s the only big bro I got, but even if he wasn’t, he’d still be the best big bro in the world. Just like Luck’s the best little bro and _someone_ is the worst adopted bro. Point is, he looks out for us. And we gotta look out for him.”

Kate didn’t ask about the someone. She already had an impression of said someone from things Keith had said. She appreciated what Berga had said.

Luck nodded. “I promise.”

She could feel tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She wiped them away. “I’m sorry. It’s just a difficult thing, you understand, thinking about your husband alone. He’s so quiet ordinarily...I worry.”

“I understand,” Luck replied. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” she sniffed. “I’ll be alri-”

A hand on her shoulder caused her to break off. She knew who it was immediately and turned to look up at him, managing a smile. He adjusted her hair and returned the expression.

Looking over at his brothers, he inclined his head and then said simply, “We’re taking the day off,” and took Kate’s hand and they left. Part of Kate wanted to be mad at him for not resting but part of her was delighted. They could spend a day together, as they so rarely got to. They could go to the zoo, and buy dinner somewhere expensive afterwards, and Kate heard an elderly woman comment what a nice couple they seemed to be.

So they did all those things, and it was an excellent day.

One day of many, as the sand in Kate’s timer ran down.

But who was counting, when it was excellent?

**Author's Note:**

> RIP Mike, named to represent a faceless group. He is missed.  
> Kate is too good and pls @narita let her be immortal  
> ok ok ik her dying works out better but PLS IM BEGGING U  
> Kate is important and good.


End file.
